Sleepy Mornings
by Kishiro Kitsune
Summary: It's hard to get a good night's rest when the people you love are somewhere out in space, possibly getting hurt.
1. Part I: Keith

Sleepy Mornings

Part I: Keith

Keith slowly awoke to find himself sandwiched between two warm bodies. He opened his eyes to see Lance burrowed beneath the blankets, comfortably tucked against his chest, and snoring quietly, which meant that it was Pidge's smaller form curled up against his back while she pressed sleepy kisses to his neck.

"You're home," Keith whispered, trying not to wake up Lance.

"We got in late. You didn't even stir when we came in," Pidge responded, just as quietly. "You didn't spend all day in the training room again, did you?"

Keith picked that particular moment to gently kiss the top of Lance's head, which made Pidge sigh in disapproval.

Whenever one (or both) of them was sent away on a mission, even a simple one, Keith would try and distract himself from his endless list of worries by fighting drones in the training room. It wouldn't have been a problem if he remembered to take breaks, but more often he'd spend hours fighting robot after robot, until he'd collapse on the ground and the program shut itself down. It'd been so bad for a while that they had to make it so Keith couldn't even access the training room without someone else being there to let him in.

"Shiro was with me," he said after a minute.

She carefully placed one hand on his hip, using her thumb to caress the bit of bare skin between the bottom of his shirt and the top of his pants. Her eyes slid shut as she started to relax again. "Okay," she breathed. "That's okay then."

Lance moaned into Keith's chest. "Too loud. Too early."

"Sorry," Keith responded, with Pidge only a second behind him. He placed another kiss to Lance's head with a happy sigh. "We'll be quiet. I think Pidge is falling asleep anyway."

Lance yawned and happily snuggled closer to his boyfriend. "Mmkay. Love you both."

Pidge's reply was an indistinct mumble as she drifted off and Keith couldn't help but smile.

There he was, snug and warm between the two people he'd fallen in love with in the middle of a war in space, and he was lucky enough that they felt the same for him and each other. He'd never dared to think he'd find such happiness. He'd never dared to think he'd find a family to call his own.

But there they were.

Keith closed his eyes and easily slipped off to sleep with a smile on his face.


	2. Part II: Pidge

Part II: Pidge

Even before she started dating them, Pidge had the habit of diving so deeply into projects to distract herself from everything else that was happening around her, that she would keep on working through all meals and on into the night if no one was around to pull her back to reality. Too often she'd find herself falling asleep in the middle of whatever she was doing, no matter how uncomfortable it was. It was just how she worked.

And then, slowly, she found herself getting distracted.

Keith started to find where she was working and would sit with her. Mostly he just let her ramble on about her projects, but every now and then he'd ask a question.

It had been unsettling at first. Having someone who wasn't part of her immediate family take interest in the things she loved wasn't something she was used to, even after a year in space. But there was _Keith_ , of all people, sitting next to her and showing a genuine interest in learning.

She started to look forward to their talks.

It took Lance two months to catch on to what was happening, and from that point on he insisted on joining them. It'd been frustrating at first; Pidge had been so sure he was just there to annoy Keith and goad him into another dumb argument. She found herself missing that short period of time when Keith finally rejoined them after working with the Blade of Mamora, when the novelty of him being _home_ was still fresh and Lance went out of his way to avoid picking fights.

And then she started to see what was really happening.

The secret smiles they shared.

The way Lance's casual touching would linger just a little bit longer with Keith than with anyone else.

How Keith didn't avoid all physical contact, even going as far as to initiate some of it on his own.

"You're dating," Pidge blurted out, her heart twisting uncomfortably at the revelation. (She ignored it.)

Her words were met by two very guilty faces.

"But why are you both here with me and not, you know," she made a wide gesture to indicate anywhere but the small room littered with tools and pieces of electronics.

"Well, um..." Keith ducked his head, his cheeks lighting up red. "We want to be here. We like you."

"Wow, you're really bad at this, aren't you?" Lance teased.

Keith's head snapped up so he could glare at his boyfriend. "You aren't any better! I'd like to see you try!"

"I will!" Lance stood so he could walk over and sit down directly in front of Pidge. His arm shook only a little as he reached for her hand and enveloped it with his own. As he looked her in the eyes, his determination wavered a little at the intense curiosity and confusion he found there. "I like Keith. Like, a lot. I have for a long time. But the thing is, I also like _you,_ and so does Keith. So maybe... I mean, we were hoping the three of us could date? If you like us too? If you don't, that's okay. We understand. Three people dating – wow, it sounds kind of crazy, right? Even way out here in space, with everything we've seen, I don't think-"

"Lance," Keith calmly interrupted. "Maybe _don't_ break Pidge's hand when you're trying to ask her out?"

Lance dropped her hand as though he'd been electrocuted.

Pidge wanted to make sure she was understanding correctly before agreeing to anything. It was all so weird to her to think that there wasn't just one boy, but _two_ , who were interested in her.

Her! Scrawny, nerdy little Katie Holt who was too smart for her own good and took great delight in learning everything she could and sharing it with others. Her, who'd dismissed boys early into middle school as being too insensitive, too dismissive of her intellect, and therefore unworthy of any attention from her.

But Keith and Lance _weren't_ the kids she went to middle school with. They were her teammates, her _friends_. She knew she could trust them with her life (and had done so on more than one occasion), but what about her heart?

"Okay, so you two are dating," Pidge said. "And for some reason, both of you think you also want to date me? How does that even work? Can it even work? We're all so different, what if we end up dating each other? What if I end up liking one of you more than the other? Or if you guys decide that you don't like me after all and just want it to be the two of you? Or what if-"

Keith's startled laughter cut her off mid-sentence and she looked away from Lance to glare across the room at him, a little hurt that he wasn't taking her concerns seriously.

Lance smiled softly as he drew her attention back to him. "Keith said the same exact thing the first time I brought it up. Well, maybe not the _exact_ , but pretty close. The thing is, we don't have the answers. We just have decide whether or not it's worth the risk."

Keith walked over to join them. "Right now, we know this: we like you a lot and we'd like to try dating, all three of us, but only if you're also interested."

Looking between them, Pidge realized she didn't have to think too hard about it.

* * *

"See, I told you she'd be here," Keith's voice was warm with fondness.

Lance chuckled as he approached her sleeping form, carefully stepping around the delicate pieces scattered all over the floor around their girlfriend. He knelt down and easily lifted her up, cradling her in his arms.

Pidge murmured in her sleep, lifting one hand to clutch at his shirt, but otherwise didn't stir.

"She's exhausted," Lance quietly said as he made his way back to the door where Keith was waiting. "Think she's been working the whole time we were gone?"

Keith frowned at the thought. "I hope not. Hunk didn't head out to visit Shay until this morning, so hopefully he got her to eat something before then."

"Yeah," Lance agreed, yawning. "Lets get her to bed. Food can wait until the morning."

Keith nodded and led the way back to their shared room, where they soon fell asleep with Pidge nestled between them, right where she belonged.


	3. Part III: Lance

Part III: Lance

There wasn't a day that went by when Lance didn't count himself as the luckiest guy in the universe. Not only was he a paladin of Voltron, defender of said universe, he was also in love with the two most incredible people he'd ever met. Even better, they loved him back.

They hadn't had the easiest start.

Keith had barely payed attention to Lance during their time in the Garrison together, even after all of the effort Lance put into making himself the perfect rival to the (beautiful) boy. It'd been more embarrassing than he liked to admit when he reunited with him after his crush had been kicked out of the Garrison, only to find out Keith didn't remember who he was.

Then there had been Pidge, whose focus and drive had drawn him in even before he'd known she was a girl. He tried hard to make friends with her under the guise of bonding as a team, but none of it had worked. It wasn't until the truth came out and he learned about her family that he finally understood why she'd pushed him away. If he'd been in her shoes and his family had been taken, he'd probably have done the same.

Of course, then they'd been thrust into a war that had been going on for ten-thousand years and there was hardly time for Lance to try and voice how he felt about them. And how would he tell them, anyway? He couldn't just walk up to them and say: "Hey, I've liked you both for a long time, we should date."

Well, he _could_ , but Keith would likely ignore him and Pidge would just think he was joking.

So Lance stayed quiet and kept his feelings bottled up deep inside.

It mostly worked. There was always something for him to do – something or someone to distract him from his thoughts and the ache he felt in his heart. If he stayed busy, he could distract himself from the fact that he was in close contact with them every single day. If he stayed busy, he wouldn't awkwardly blurt out that he had a crush on them.

Then Keith left the team to go work with the Blade of Marmora, and Lance felt like his world was crumbling around him.

Keith was abandoning them.

Abandoning _him._

Lance found more to do.

He ignored the stab of heartache when Pidge ran off to find her brother, reminding himself that she'd be back. She wasn't leaving him.

She'd never looked more beautiful to him than when she returned to the Castle with Matt by her side. The happy smile on her face had his heart doing somersaults for days and he'd almost confessed to her right then and there. (He focused on Allura instead. It was easy to pretend his feelings for her were more than just platonic.)

It took time, and several near fatal missions where Lance was sure he was about to lose Keith forever, before Keith came back to the team, a little more broken and scarred than when he left.

Lance lasted three days before he caught Keith alone and out tumbled all of the feelings and thoughts he'd kept bottled up for two years. He didn't even realize he was crying until the other boy was standing right in front of him, gently wiping away the tears.

"I like you too," Keith admitted.

That only made Lance cry more, though he tried to hide it by throwing his arms around Keith and pulling him in for a tight hug. He had the thought that his day couldn't possibly get any better, which was when Keith pulled back, cupped his cheek with one hand, and then leaned up for a soft, brief kiss.

Telling Keith about his crush on Pidge had been easier than he thought. Much in the same way he'd blurted out everything before, it was when they were sitting alone, just enjoying each others company, that Lance found himself opening his big mouth.

"I have a crush on Pidge."

Keith pulled away, visibly startled. "You... what?"

Lance couldn't look at him, the guilt welling up in his throat. "I know. I know it's stupid. It's wrong. I shouldn't... I _can't_ like both of you this much. It isn't right, but I do."

"So, what do you want to do?" Keith asked, brows furrowed in confusion. "We're dating, right? But you also want to date Pidge?"

"I... yes? I think so," Lance said, sounding miserable.

"Would I be dating her too? Would that... would that even work? We're all so different. What if it doesn't work out between all three of us? What if... what if you like her more and don't want to date me anymore? Or if it turns out that neither of us like her in that way?" Keith tried to vocalize his concerns to get a better grasp on the situation. "Do people even do this?"

"I don't know," Lance admitted. "There has to be someone else who's felt this way, right? I can't be the first." He finally lifted his head, daring to look at Keith's face. He was taken aback to see the same fire and determination in his eyes as when he was tackling a Voltron-related problem.

"I want to try," Keith decided.

"You want to try?" Lance repeated, feeling faint.

Keith nodded. "If you like Pidge that much, I don't want to be the one keeping you from trying. So... so I'll spend time with her. We've never had the chance to do that."

Lance may have spent the hour following that conversation showering Keith with affection and reassurances of how much he loved him.

* * *

About a month into Keith's plan of spending time with Pidge to better get to know her, Lance found himself in the kitchen with Hunk, helping his best friend test new recipes, when Keith walked in with a faraway expression on his face.

"Lance, I think I like Pidge."

Lance nearly dropped a bowl of something that had the consistency of jello, but smelled like boiled cabbage and was an alarmingly vivid pink color. He quickly set the bowl aside and rushed to Keith's side. "You really like her?"

"She was explaining how she first got the cloaking to work on Green, and then the version she built for Voltron, and just looked so..." Keith struggled to find the right word. "Cute. And once I started thinking about it, I couldn't stop. Why didn't I notice before? It's so easy to be around her. She doesn't expect me to carry a conversation or even understand everything she's talking about. And she doesn't talk down to me when I ask a question either. It's... She's _amazing._ " Keith blinked, realizing Lance was standing right in front of him with the biggest grin on his face. He smiled back. "You're amazing too, Lance."

"So you want to try?" Lance asked eagerly, unable to keep his excitement at bay. "Not _immediately_ , of course, but you want to? Soon?"

Keith chuckled. "Soon sounds perfect. We might want to actually ask Pidge if she's interested in dating us first, before we go too far."

"Well, duh." Lance couldn't help but lean forward for a quick kiss.

"Oh," Hunk spoke up from near the stove, where he was watching the two with wide eyes.

Both Keith and Lance went a little red at the realization that they had an audience.

"So, wait. You two are dating? And you didn't even tell me? _Me_ , your best friend?" Hunk put his hands on his hips, trying to look disappointed. The effect was ruined by the giant smile he was sporting. "Congrats, man. I'm happy for you. And, Keith? I'd totally do the whole protective best friend threatens the boyfriend thing, but lets face it: you can kick my ass. So instead, if you hurt him, I'll get _Shiro_ to kick your ass. Got it?"

Lance wondered if he should tell Hunk that the spatula and frilly yellow apron really didn't lend well to the whole intimidation routine he was attempting, except Keith seemed to take it seriously enough.

"Good," Hunk said, going back to his baking. After a minute or two, he frowned and turned to face them again. "Wait, what's all this stuff about Pidge?"

And that was how Lance found himself on the receiving end of a mildly terrifying promise that Hunk would make his life a living hell if either of them ever did something to purposefully hurt Pidge in any way.

"I know how this Castle works," Hunk reminded them.

Maybe the apron was a little more intimidating than he thought.

* * *

The bed was too big, too empty without them.

Lance never slept well when his boyfriend and girlfriend weren't there with him. Part of it was the worry; they weren't technically at war anymore, but that didn't make their missions any less important or dangerous. There were still Galra out there who insisted on continuing their fight, even with Zarkon gone and the Empire in ruin.

He worried about the others when they were away too, but the absence of Pidge and Keith was always so obvious when he got into bed without one or both of them right next to him. He knew it was the same for them. They'd talked more than once about how much they looked forward to the days when they wouldn't have to be apart for long stretches of time.

Lance curled up in the center of the bed, tucking the blankets around him. He fell into a fitful sleep.

Two hours went by and he jolted awake at the sound of the door swishing shut and angry, hushed voices.

" _Wazgoinon_?" Lance slurred, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "What happened?" He tried again, seeing them standing at the door, glaring at each other.

Pidge held herself stiffly, arms tense at her side, on the verge of snapping at someone if she was pushed too hard. Keith had his arms crossed over his chest and was staring down at her with a deadly serious expression. By the looks of things, he wasn't going to back down from his stance, even if it meant being on the receiving end of Pidge's temper, which had been getting shorter and shorter.

" _Nothing_ happened," Pidge snapped, not talking her eyes off of Keith.

That wasn't a good sign. Lance could handle Keith doing stupidly risky things on mission, but Pidge? It was never something he'd get used to, even if he wanted to. (Which he did not. It was bad enough that Keith still tended towards reckless when he fought.)

"But something _almost_ happened!" Keith shouted.

Lance was out of bed in a heartbeat. Keith would never raise a hand to hurt Pidge, or anyone he loved, even in anger, but him raising his voice had every one of Lance's protective instincts on edge. He slid between them, a physical barrier to keep things from escalating.

Keith backed down, his anger flickering to reveal something more like fear. "Katie, you need to ask Shiro to take you off of active duty. Yesterday proved that. _Please_."

"Take her off...? Why would Shiro take her off active duty?" Lance asked, trying to piece everything together through his exhaustion. Was Pidge hurt? Was she sick? That didn't make sense. The healing pods would fix her right up if that were the case. So then why? What was he missing?

He looked to Pidge for answers, only to find her staring at the floor, tears glinting in the corners of her eyes. "Pidge? Babe, what's wrong?" He missed Keith wince at the word choice and was therefore unprepared when Pidge began to sob, great big tears rolling down her cheeks and splattering against the floor.

Lance looked to Keith for help, on the verge of panic himself. He wasn't so sure one of his usual comforting hugs was going to help the situation, but Keith nudged his arm and nodded, so Lance did just that.

Pidge hiccuped into his shirt and wound her arms around him, squeezing tightly. After a few minutes of sniffling and even more tears, she tilted her head to look past Lance. "Keith..."

He took that as his cue to move in, circling around to join in on the hug. "I'm sorry, Pidge. I saw you go down and I... I panicked. But I'm serious about talking to Shiro. You shouldn't be out there in the field like that."

"I know," Pidge responded miserably. "I'm going to tell him tomorrow."

Keith breathed a sigh of relief and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you."

Lance was still lost. "So are either of you going to tell me what's going on, or am I going to have to start making crazy guesses?"

Pidge laughed as she unwound her arms from around him. Grabbing his right hand, she guided it down to rest against her flat belly. "Lance, I'm pregnant."

Lance's joyous shouting as he ran down the hall to tell Hunk the happy news woke the entire Castle.


	4. Bonus Stories

This is it! The end of the road for this story. I just wanna thank everyone who took the time to leave a review! That always makes my day a little brighter.

Number One and Two are both very silly, but I'm glad I wrote them. Number Three is more in line with the rest of this fic.

 **Bonus Stories**

Number One

"Hunk!" Lance screamed as he ran down the hall. "Hunk! HUNK, ARE YOU AWAKE?!"

Keith and Pidge stood in the doorway of their room, content to stand back and watch their boyfriend. Keith wrapped an arm around her waist and rested his chin on top of her head.

"I think he's happy," Pidge remarked.

"HUNK, WAKE UP!" Lance began banging on his friend's door.

Across the hall, a different door slid open and a shirtless Shiro stepped out to see what was happening. "Why is Lance yelling?"

"HUNK! I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING IMPORTANT! HUNK!"

"Do you think we should stop him?" Keith asked.

Pidge shook her head. "It's a little late for that now."

At last, the door slid open, revealing a very grumpy Hunk in yellow pajamas.

Lance beamed at him. "Hunk, I'm gonna be a dad!"

Hunk stared at him for a moment and then stepped back into his room and let the door close behind him. Seconds later, it opened a second time and a much more awake Hunk grasped Lance by the shoulders. _"You're what?!"_

"I'm gonna be a dad!"

Hunk squealed in glee.

"You realize you're not allowed to leave me alone with him, right?" Pidge asked Keith.

"I'm starting to see that," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "Though if Lance and Hunk are this bad, how do you think Allura and Coran will react? Or your brother, for that matter."

"Oh, about the same as Shiro is right now."

They both looked to their leader, who appeared just as excited about the news as the other two.

"I'm going to be an uncle!" Shiro whispered to himself.

* * *

Number Two

"If we're going to do this right, we're going to need code names!" Lance announced to his fellow paladins. "I'll be Eagle One! Keith, you're Currently Doing That."

Keith looked confused. "Doing what?"

Lance ignored the question. "Pidge, you're Also Currently Doing That."

"You're so lucky I love you," Pidge told him, sounding amused. She had one hand resting on her very pregnant belly.

"Shiro is, It Happened Once In A Dream," Lance continued.

"Oooh, so you've had the Shiro Dream too?" Pidge asked, joining in on the fun.

"It's the best dream," Lance replied.

Shiro groaned. "No. No, we are not doing this."

"Doing _what_?" Keith asked again, no less confused than before. "And what dream? What's happening?"

Pidge gestured for Keith to lean down so she could whisper in his ear.

" _Ohhh_... Do you think we've had the same dream?"

Shiro stared at the floor as though he wished it would open up and swallow him whole.

"Allura can be, If I Had To Pick An Alien!" Lance winked at her, grinning when she laughed in response. "And finally, Hunk!"

"Oh no," he murmured, looking worried.

"You're Eagle Two."

"Thank you."

Allura raised her hand. "Lance, I've got one little question, before we begin. What do code names have to do with baby-proofing the Castle?"

* * *

Number Three

Kolivan stared in awe at the tiny life-form cradled in his arms, taking in everything from the curls of black hair on top of her head, to the pale purple fluff on the tips of her pointed ears, to the way she looked up at him with absolutely no fear. She giggled at him and waved her chubby arms, reaching for nothing in particular.

He slowly sat down on a nearby bench, unable to tear his eyes away.

She was so small. So fragile. A new little life right there in his arms, unaware of just how terrifying and brutal the universe could be.

Her hand found his braid and tugged. Hard.

Kolivan smiled and let her. He was so enraptured by her, he didn't notice Keith splitting away from his family to slowly approach him with a second baby in his arms. It wasn't until the younger man was seated next to him that Kolivan saw him at all.

"Looks like Keira has a new favorite," Keith said with a smile. It faded a little when he noticed something off about his mentor. "Kolivan, are you alright? You're crying."

Kolivan continued staring at the baby, suddenly aware of the tears dampening his cheeks. It wasn't a surprise. Not really. Holding her brought up a whole host of memories he'd shoved to the back of his mind for years. They were just too painful to think about.

"I had a son once."

Keith's eyes went wide in shock, but he didn't make a remark about what he'd just learned. He suspected it was as much as he would get from the stoic leader of the Blade. Instead, he turned his second daughter to face Kolivan. "Would you like to meet Leona too?"

Kolivan's gaze shifted to her. She appeared fully human, unlike her twin, with hair a similar shade to her mother and a darker complexion. Like Keira, she looked up at him fearlessly. "Your cubs are beautiful."

"Yeah, they are," Keith agreed with a soft smile.


End file.
